vodafone international

StinkerPinker

My elderly relative has just acquired her first mobile, a Doro 409gsm on a PAYG basis. She won't be making many calls but a significant number of her contacts are overseas.

I see that Vodafone offer relief from the high £1 or £1.50 per minute tariffs to call abroad by registering for Vodafone International, when the tariff is much lower. But I can't seem to find the downside. They mention you should do this if making lots of calls abroad rather than a few, but they don't say why. They say registering for this is free and simple.

My question is: is there some minimum number of calls overseas you have to make per month or whatever to stay in the service, and is there some kind of regular fee for the service? Otherwise, why not simply sign up on the spot on the mere offchance you might be calling abroad someday? :think:

Thanks.

grumbler

StinkerPinker wrote: »

My elderly relative has just acquired her first mobile, a Doro 409gsm on a PAYG basis. She won't be making many calls but a significant number of her contacts are overseas.

I see that Vodafone offer relief from the high £1 or £1.50 per minute tariffs to call abroad by registering for Vodafone International, when the tariff is much lower. But I can't seem to find the downside.

I don't know what countries your relative needs, but generally 60 minutes for £10 doesn't look like a good deal for overseas call. Neither does 21p/min to UK mobiles while 7-8p/m is available at other operators.

They mention you should do this if making lots of calls abroad rather than a few, but they don't say why.

I'd prefer to see a full quote, but cannot find this on the website.

My question is: is there some minimum number of calls overseas you have to make per month or whatever to stay in the service, and is there some kind of regular fee for the service?

I am not with Vodafone, but my understanding is that there is no minimum number and no fee.

Otherwise, why not simply sign up on the spot on the mere offchance you might be calling abroad someday? :think:

Because you have to top up £10 to get 60 minutes and these minutes last only 30 days.

You can call to many countries for 0-1 p/min from a landline or for a little higher price from mobile. Even at O2 you can get 3000 minutes to 3 landline numbers abroad for £10ish.

StinkerPinker

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply, grumbler. Kind of you.

I didn't realize you needed special credits to make international calls - I thought it would just come out of the general balance. Still, that's the catch. I thought there would be one. Mobile tariffs seem to be a real minefield, don't they? The idea of available international minutes expiring after a fixed time seems like sharp practice to me - I don't class them in the same category as minutes bundled in a monthly contract that don't roll over from month to month.

Thanks for the info on the O2 overseas deal. I've only used vodafone myself and never made an international call using my mobile, so not familiar with this stuff. I may change my relative's phone to another operator after reading up on it some more.

ATB.